Hanif Abdurraqib

Columbus is the setting for Abdurraqib's first book, a poetry collection called The Crown Ain't Worth Much (Button Poetry, July 2016).[4] Publishers Weekly's review noted, "When Willis-Abdurraqib meditates on the dangers of being young and black in America, the power of his poetry is undeniable".[5] The Indiana Review called the collection "expansive and rich...compassionate, elegiac."[6] Fusion called his "poetry a crash course in emotional honesty."[7] Writing of the collection's titular poem, The Huffington Post said Abdurraqib's "chilling take on black death is heartbreakingly true."[8]

Abdurraqib is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a Callaloo Creative Writing Fellow. PBS's Articulate with Jim Cotter described Abdurraqib as "of a generation that is helping to redefine poetry".[9] Blavity called Abdurraqib one of "13 Young Black Poets You Should Know".[10] He is a poetry editor at Muzzle Magazine[11] and a founder, with Eve Ewing, of the Echo Hotel poetry collective. He edited an anthology of poems about pop music called Again I Wait For This To Pull Apart (FreezeRay Press, 2015).[12] In April 2017 his chapbook Vintage Sadness had a limited edition release by Big Lucks, selling out its print run of 500 copies in just under six hours. In August 2017, he was named the managing editor of Button Poetry. On September 3, 2019, Tin House released Abdurraqib's second poetry collection, A Fortune for Your Disaster.[13][14][15]

Abdurraqib is a visiting poet teaching in the MFA program at Butler University in the fall of 2018.[16][17]

Abdurraqib's writing has appeared in The Fader, The New York Times, and Pitchfork,[18] as well as previously serving as a columnist at MTV News,[19] writing about music, culture, and identity. The Huffington Post named his essay on Fetty Wap's song "Trap Queen" to its list of "The Most Important Writing From People of Color in 2015."[20] Discussing Abdurraqib's essay on the late Muhammed Ali as inspiration to a generation of hip-hop artists, critic Ned Raggett called the piece a "standout" among the many elegies.[21]

Abdurraqib's essay collection They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us was published in November 2017 by Two Dollar Radio.[22] The Chicago Tribune named it to a list of "25 must-read books" for the fall of 2017[23] and Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, calling the collection "mesmerizing and deeply perceptive".[24] The book also received favorable reviews from the Chicago Tribune[25] and The Washington Post (where Pete Tosiello described They Can't Kill Us as "a breathtaking collection of largely music-focused essays"),[26] and The New York Times Magazine featured a passage from the collection in the magazine's "New Sentences" column.[27]

Abdurraqib published Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest in 2019 as part of University of Texas Press's American Music Series,[28][29] edited by Jessica Hopper, David Menconi, and Oliver Wang.[30] It debuted at number 13 on The New York Times bestseller list for paperback non-fiction[31] and received strongly favorable reviews from critics.[32][33] Reviewers stressed the accomplishment of integrating music history with both a broader history and a more personal one.[34] Writing for Publishers Weekly, Ed Nawotka called the book "part academic monograph on the group and its music, part pocket history of hip-hop, part memoir, and part epistolary elegy. It is a book that conveys the wonder of being a fan and the visceral impact of experiencing the feeling of having oneself reflected back in music and pop culture."[35] For NPR Lily Meyer praised Abdurraqib's "seemingly limitless capacity to share what moves him, which means that to read Go Ahead in the Rain, you don't need to be a Tribe Called Quest fan: Abdurraqib will make you one."[36] The book was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction[37] and longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction.[38]

In January 2018, Abdurraqib announced he had signed a two-book deal with Random House,;[39] announced as a nonfiction book They Don't Dance No' Mo' on the history of black performance in the United States, to be published in 2020[35] and an essay collection following up on They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us.[39] The first book was retitled A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance with a March 30, 2021 release.[40] A Little Devil received a starred prepublication review in Publishers Weekly, which wrote, “Filled with nuance and lyricism, Abdurraqib’s luminous survey is stunning.”[40]